An officer walks up to you and asks “Your neighbors are saying your husband barbeques babies on the weekend. Is that true?” There are three answers you could give. Yes, he does. No, he doesn’t. I don’t know. Being his wife one presumes that you know your husband well enough to know if he barbeques babies on the weekend, or at least whether he’s the kind of person that would, so that’s why it’s a yes or no answer to that question, with ‘I don’t know’ being a qualified ‘yes.’ To not know means you’re not willing to categorically deny his willingness to do such a heinous act to children.

Here’s another question. A truther walks up to presidential candidate John Edwards and asks clumsily whether he thinks the government murdered our own civilians on 9/11. There are two answers Edwards could give. No, it didn’t. Yes, it did. Any other answer is to say that you believe government employees, thousands of them, are morally capable of planning and executing the slaughter of Americans. That’s a grave charge, and a dark depiction of those who choose public service.

John Edwards is a popular Democrat vying for the most powerful position in the world. What answer would you expect him to give? “No sir, I won’t even let you finish that question…stop right there. I hate Republicans, and I hate George Bush, but I know my country’s heart is good and never, in my darkest nightmares, would I ever believe that Americans killed Americans that day. Get out, and never say my name in the same sentence with yours.” With that question before him he could show his decency. But that wasn’t his answer.

YouTube shows us the answer John Edwards chose to give: “No, I haven’t focused on it, but since you brought it up I will.” Then he continues, “All I can…I can’t tell you what I’d do right now, because I have to think about it. I’m willing to look at it, I don’t know what I’m willing to do. If you’ll do me a favor, before you go today,” and then pointing across the crowd, adds “that guy with the blue shirt on standing right next you, works for me, make sure we know how to reach you and, you have my word I’ll have an answer on that.”

Sounds like “I don’t know” to me, or something as sinister - John Edwards is willing appease even the most deluded and malicious 9/11 deniers to win their vote. They’re kooks, right?

Some now reading reach to remind me - the Rasmussen poll showed 61% of Democrats were willing to believe George Bush and our government colluded with Islamic terrorists to murder Americans on that September day in 2001. And your right, maybe that’s where the votes are found, maybe this abominable slander is mainstream. Maybe I’m the kook.

Maybe the world is out to get me, and I should take it personally, cursing the sidelong glances as Bush steals a peek at my library card. Maybe I should stew in my own juices until my clothes all turn as black as my heart, curdling my brain until I see heroes as dupes and dupes as dead. All 2,954 of them.

Truthers are sick, lonely people united by a festering vision of the world around them. To entertain any ideas about winning their vote is to grant them a credibility they haven’t earned and don’t deserve. It also unveils Edwards as a political animal so craven there is no line he won’t cross. Is there no decency left in the Democratic party? Is not even America’s heart worth defending?

He doesn’t know.

John Edwards for president?

There’s only one answer to that question.

Evrviglnt: Political Vindication